6. Eden #2
My lips part, and there’s a small lump in my throat. He’s trapped me inside of him, unraveling me in moments. I don’t know how he managed to figure me out so fast, but I’m sure he did. I’m sure he just drank down all my secrets. All my fears. I’m almost afraid of the implication in his words.
Family . It is a pretty thought.
I take a delicate step out from under him and down the stairs, sucking in a needed breath and rubbing my hand over the raised hairs on my arms. He lets me escape, but his clever, curious interest follows me.
Casting about for a distraction, I eye the wide, clear windows that line the entire front wall of the sitting room, inviting me out into the sunshine. A large, solitary apple tree stretches its laden limbs toward the house.
“ How could this possibly be hidden from the drones?” I ask as we pass the windows, changing the topic.
Jasper allows the shift, directing me with a firm hand on the back of my shirt, just lower than is proper. I shiver under the proprietary touch, so warm through the thin fabric.
“ The lodge is built into the side of a cliff, which overhangs our valley. It’s protected on three sides by the mountain and the fourth is concealed by the forest. It’s impossible to see from above from any angle, and you would have to know where you were going—or be incredibly lucky—to find it from the ground. ”
I frown, letting the new puzzle take the place of my discomfort. “ What about heat signatures?”
He shakes his head once. “ We’re too deep into the rock. Even if we weren’t, we’ve seen no evidence of drones since the first year after the initial attack. Whoever was sending them is either now unable to or has given up their efforts.”
“ You don’t know who sent them?” I ask. “ I thought, perhaps, since you were Army ...”
“ The men were on leave when it happened; I had recently retired. They were summoned back to base when the first strikes hit, but by the time we arrived, it was too late. Our base was gone, as well as a dozen others.” He lifts one shoulder, his soft lips forming a hard, grim line.
“ Our team eventually tracked down one of their satellite phones, but by the time we were able to contact our international embassies, no one answered. As there has been no land invasion here that we know of, nor any aid delivered from our allies, we can only speculate regarding the state of other nations. Mass devastation, surely. Whether they were entrenched in the Final War , or wiped out as surely as we were, the silence speaks for itself. I don’t expect they’re any better off than we are. ”
My stomach drops at the confirmation. It was everything I assumed, everything I feared. It doesn’t change anything, not really, but it still hurts to hear how irrevocably our world has been torn apart. I suck in a deep breath.
He pauses. Taking my arm in a gentle grip, he draws me to a halt. “ I apologize, Eden . That is not news I should have delivered so casually.”
I can’t help but sink into him. Just a little. He lets me, but the decadent silk on silk press of my body against his isn’t as relaxing as I thought it would be. He’s too warm. Too firm. He smells too much like the books that kept my imagination vivid and awake through these last four lonely years.
“ Oh , that’s quite all right,” I say, my voice on the wrong side of breathy. “ It’s , well, it’s surprisingly hard to hear, but it’s not like I expected help to arrive after all this time. I’m not quite that naive.” I shake my head. “ I’m okay. I’m sorry.”
“ Hm .” He cups my chin in those long, elegant fingers, but I can’t be snared in those eyes again. I try to turn my face but end up rubbing my cheek into his palm instead.
He releases a long breath, then murmurs, “ Did help not arrive, though?”
He brushes his thumb over the seam of my mouth.
My eyes flutter closed as a shiver traces its way over my scalp and down my spine, and I need to force them back open.
I blush at how intensely he regards me. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone with such single-minded focus.
Like the whole world has just faded away and we stand together, alone in some kind of hazy, dreamy abyss.
“ I —” I clear my throat as his thumb dips briefly into the warm, slick heat of my mouth before he withdraws. I only just stop myself from panting. “ I suppose it did.”
Those pretty lips take a sweet, lunate curve, and then he draws me back into motion down the hall.
I’m reminded that there is, in fact, a world around us.
And there are four other men awaiting me.
Four men who are expecting to form a ridiculous sex pact that is slowly sounding less and less ridiculous with every moment I spend in Jasper’s company.
He leads me around a corner, deeper into the lodge. Rosy lights brighten the spacious hall. Jasper matches my slow steps patiently, in silence, until the air between us swells, growing heavy and electric.
I have to fight to stop my hands from fidgeting, my body tingling and pulsing with... nerves? Surely it’s nerves.
“ You have a lovely home,” I blurt.
The curve to his lips deepens, but he says nothing.
I’m not usually a person who needs to fill silence, but my pulse is jittery. Carbonated . It’s making things bubble out of me.
“ So have you lived here long?” Just stop talking, Eden . Please , for the love of God .
Jasper quirks a brow and lets me stew in my embarrassment for a moment, damn him.
“ Yes , I have,” he finally says, then adds, “ This was my family home, and later my personal retreat, before the world disappeared. My mother was from Gangnam -gu, in Seoul . She fell in love with an American businessman, my father, though she insisted that she fell in love with the scenery first. They built Bristlebrook , and it was their sanctuary for many years before they retired in Seoul .”
We pause in front of a heavy door. “ They left this home to me, and I was in the process of moving here after my retirement when everything fell apart. I suggested the Rangers join me when it became clear we could do no good where we were.”
I press my lips together. There’s a bitter undercurrent in his tone. I want to touch him, to offer him some small comfort, but I’m scared that if I do, I’ll end up floating away again.
I need to stay grounded right now.
“ You’re too young to be retired,” I say instead of pressing.
“ It was foolish of me, but there was something I thought I could outrun. In the end, it only ended up chasing me here.” The smile on his lips turns cold, self-deprecating, but he grimaces. “ Enough of that.”
The crease deepens between my brows, and I open my mouth, confused, but he cuts me off and pushes open the door.
“ Welcome to Bristlebrook , Eden .”
The low murmuring in the room tapers off as the door swings open and it takes a moment for me to gather my courage and step inside.
Dark floorboards span the room, covered in the center by a plush rug.
The natural gray rock of the cliff forms the walls and ceiling of the large, cave-like room, reminding me of my last home.
Golden light bathes long leather couches, which frame the room on three sides.
A floor-to-ceiling television takes up the fourth, complete with gaming consoles and controllers.
On the opposite side of the room, a raised platform behind one of the couches houses a well-stocked drink bar.
It’s a complete man cave, albeit a classy one.
Lucky is sprawled far too close to the massive television, an open bottle of whiskey beside him and a game controller in his hand.
He gives me a wink when I enter, then his eyes run over my silk shirt and color creeps into his cheeks.
He glances up at Jasper , but the game draws his attention back quickly.
Dom and Beau are leaning forward on the couches, heads bent together as though in mid-conversation. A half-read book rests open and forgotten on Dom’s lap. They both look up as I enter. Something flares in Dom’s eyes as he takes in my skimpy, damp shirt.
I don’t recognize the fourth man by the bar but this has to be the mysterious Jaykob . As I watch, he cracks a bottle open on the belt of his jeans, letting the bottle top fall to the floor as he takes a drag.
I purse my lips. He had better be planning on picking that up.
The man is tall, about Beau’s height, but stockier with it.
His face is rough-hewn—rawly attractive rather than classically handsome.
He has elaborate, full-sleeve tattoos on both thickly muscled arms and his once-white T -shirt strains across his chest; it’s dirtied with some sort of black paint.
Not that he seems the artistic type. Despite his stillness, his eyes hold a kind of dangerous turbulence that makes me uneasy.
.. even as I wonder what kissing him might be like.
What maybe more than kissing him might be like.
The thought pulls me up short. What on earth has come over me? Since when do I think about, well, about more than kissing?
It’s as though Beau sparked something by the river, then Jasper fanned the flames, and now Jaykob and Lucky and Dom are just sitting around like sexy man kindling.
This needs to stop— now —or I’m going to end up embarrassing myself.
I shiver and look back at Lucky’s game, which seems the safest option at the moment. A mocking snort comes from the scary artist’s direction.
“ The mouse?” he scoffs. His voice is gravel and windburn. “ Whatever . I’ll make do.”
I flinch, and Jasper curses softly behind me.
My gaze swings back around to find Jaykob stalking up to me.
I barely see the dark intent in his midnight blue eyes before his hand grasps my chin and his mouth fits flush against mine.
My lips part on a sound of surprise, and he takes the opportunity to plunder my mouth.
His grip moves to the back of my head, almost painfully, and his other hand grasps my backside, pulling me hard against him.
I shudder, shocked, lost in his demanding mouth.
With a whimper that gets lost in our tangled tongues, I raise my hands to his chest, not sure if I want to push him away or pull him closer.
No one has ever been this rough with me.
My breasts rub against him, shockingly sensitive through the thin silk.
Then he’s yanked away, and a hand grasps my elbow, keeping me upright.
I suck in air, panting jaggedly, heat rising in my cheeks as I take in the scene in front of me.
Jasper , who had been closest, was the one who dragged Jaykob off me, and Beau is helping him hold back the now-swearing man.
Lucky has abandoned his game and stands between them and me, and Dom .
.. Dom has my elbow. I look up at him, wide eyed and damp lipped, and he gives me a stern, searching look.
“ The fuck was that?” Beau snaps.
Jaykob smirks at him, chest heaving as he half-heartedly tries to shake the two men off. “ It is what she’s here for, ain’t it?”
My cheeks burn. Was I confused before? I definitely would have pushed him away.
Eventually .
Before I think about what I’m doing, I stalk up to the three men and slap Jaykob hard across the face. It barely moves his cheek and my hand stings from the impact. I curl my fingers into my palm to soothe the sudden shock of pain.
Everyone stills. The burly man gives me a look of darkening disbelief.
Immediately , guilt pricks me. Stabs me, really.
It’s as unacceptable for a woman to strike a man as the other way around, but memories of the men in the woods are still too fresh for cold fear not to prick me at his roughness—even if that fear is only filtering through now. And he did grab me first.
“ Whatever I agreed, you do not have the right to manhandle me like that unless I give you permission!”
My voice is only half as stern as I’d have liked it to be, my body still roiling with... I purse my lips. Even if I am attracted to him, it’s not okay for him to just paw at me like that. I don’t know this man.
“ You will— You will treat me like a lady!” I add, trying to keep the indignation in my tone and wishing I didn’t sound so much like Scarlett O’Hara on the verge of a swoon.
My stomach dips again when I see the angry red mark growing on his cheek. I’ve never hit anyone before. Even frightened, I’m better than this. I’m certainly smarter than this. Guilt makes maintaining my anger difficult.
I’m about to apologize when his eyes trail over me obnoxiously, lingering on my breasts. I don’t have to look down to know my nipples are tight and hard against the thin silk.
Traitors .
The urge to apologize dies, and I lift my chin.
Jaykob meets my eyes and sneers. “ Lady , is it?”
The scorn in his face makes me cringe, though there’s a flash of something small and bitter in his downturned mouth that makes me wonder. Why should he be upset?
Then he rubs a hand over his reddened, stubbled cheek and the look is gone.
He looks at Dom . “ Got a type, don’t you? Just so it’s on the record, hypocritical bitch ain’t mine.”
Beau’s brows lower in a menacing look that would make Dom proud, but Jaykob pulls his arm free of Beau’s grip and moves toward the door. Just before he leaves, he turns. “ If she’s staying, she’ll do her part for all of us. Or she’s out.”
The door slams behind him.